1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a container system, in particular to a lightweight, stackable, high strength container system.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Containers for shipping dense, heavy materials are well known. In order to accommodate and adequately retain and support the materials, the walls of the container must be sufficiently strong. Such containers tend to be made of thick, heavy materials that detract from their utility due to difficulty in handling the containers even when empty. Moreover, it is advantageous to have containers that may be broken down and separated into a cover, base and sidewall elements. The utility of containers further improves if such elements may be stacked when not in use. Such containers further require access by a forklift or pallet jack tines to be useful.
Efforts to achieve lightweight, high strength shipping containers such as are used for shipping paper or other heavy materials have lead to the use of corrugated plastic construction materials. Such materials generally provide a high strength lightweight structure. However, such materials may not have sufficient strength to be comparable to very heavy, dense materials as a sidewall in a container. Moreover, although such materials may have improved strength, the strength benefits may be outweighed by the difficulties of handling heavy material.
It can be seen then that a new and improved container system is needed that can utilize lightweight construction, while having sufficient strength to contain and support dense, heavy materials. Moreover, such a container system should provide for stackability and for breaking down into stackable container components. The present invention addresses these as well as other problems associated with containers.